My Pregnancy Journey

Being pregnant was hands down one of the best journeys I have ever been on. I have had a lot of questions as to how my pregnancy was, what I did for exercise, what I ate etc so here is my pregnancy story…

 

Fitness

I was told that maintaining a good level of fitness would be very beneficial in helping my body to get through labour so I was keen to keep as fit as possible J

As I was feeling pretty good I continued my usual exercise routine up until about 15 weeks. This included daily walks, two classes at KX Pilates each week, a couple of runs along the beach and two kettlebell classes at Hello Fitness. I found that there were days where I had no energy and I made sure I listened to my body and didn’t push myself.

By about 15 weeks I found that my pelvic floor muscles were not so happy with my beach runs so these were given the flick. I started doing clinical pilates at Domain Health twice a week as I was getting pain in my lower back and hips (thanks to that pesky hormone relaxin that is secreted during pregnancy) . The physios there were fantastic in giving me exercises to strengthen and stabilise my pelvis and also helped me to work on my weak pelvic floor muscles. I had a special session where they used an ultrasound machine to teach me how to correctly work my pelvic floor muscles which was fantastic to actually see them working and as a bonus I got to see the bub too 🙂

I continued with walking and also my Kettlebell class right up until the week before I went into labour. My lovely instructor Lucy from Hello Fitness was fantastic in modifying the workouts to provide me with safe pregnancy exercises.

Diet

During the first trimester of pregnancy I had huge cravings for carbs and I definitely did indulge myself a little more than I usually would… I didn’t really have any other strange cravings but I was sooooo hungry and could just keep packing in the food. It was seriously like I had a bottomless pit in my stomach!!!! I tried to maintain a healthy diet and made sure that I was eating lots of fruit and veggies and wholefoods.

Throughout my pregnancy though my sugar cravings were getting out of control. I tried to satisfy myself with lots of fresh fruit everyday however I must admit I did indulge in a few more desserts than I had been eating before falling pregnant.

I have always followed the 80/20 rule whereby I eat healthy 80% of the time and allow myself to indulge the other 20% so I really just tried to make sure that I was fuelling my body with healthy food the majority of the time.

Health

After suffering from Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and working with a Naturopath to fall pregnant with the use of herbal supplements and acupuncture (read my story here) I was worried that my chances of miscarriage was higher due to the PCOS. I continued with weekly acupuncture sessions at Carlton Natural Health for the whole of the first trimester to help my body ‘hold’ the pregnancy. I also took a pregnancy multivitamin, iron supplements, folate and fish oil to make sure my body was healthy and able to provide my baby with the nutrients it needed.

I was also lucky enough to be given a few gift voucher for pregnancy massage at Body Freedom. I have always loved getting relaxing massages but when you are pregnant there are certain points that can bring on labour if they are massaged so I was weary of where I went for one. The therapists at Body Freedom are specially trained in pregnancy massage so I knew I was in good hands. When I was starting to get tired and my body was aching these massages were a savour.

Skin Care

I like to keep things as natural as possible and slathered pure virgin coconut oil on my body every morning and night when I got out of the shower. Whether it was pure coincidence or the coconut oil did have a part to play, thankfully I didn’t get any stretch marks hooraaaay!!

I think it is very easy when you are pregnant to fall in the trap of thinking “I’m pregnant so I’m just going to make the most of it and eat whatever I like”. Trust me there were definitely times where I felt like this… Try to make sure you continue with eating as healthy a diet as possible, exercise regularly and look after yourself so that your body can grow a healthy little person.